Game of Thrones star Brenock O'Connor was 'happy' about the reaction to Jon Snow stabbing

HE BECAME the most hated character on Game of Thrones in the space of one scene but actor Brenock O'Connor has admitted that he was actually pretty pleased with the strong reaction he got after his character Olly stabbed Jon Snow (Kit Harington).

Olly enraged Game of Thrones fans the world over when he lured the beloved if morose leader of the Night's Watch to his death and stuck a dagger in him in the season five finale. The shock ending to the scene sparked mass outrage on social media as viewers were left in a state of disbelief and vented their fury at the actor.

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk the young star said: "At the beginning I was getting quite a bit of hate. It was quite strange from no one really noticing my character to people sending hateful messages over Twitter and stuff but it’s sort of died down now.

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"I just enjoy the fact that I had that much of an impact. It’s very rare for my character to get noticed really, so I was quite happy with the reaction that I got. When you do something bad, you want a bad reaction for it."

He went on to say that he was kept in dark about the big twist involving his character until a couple of weeks before filming on the scene was due to take place but the rest of the crew had been dropping hints.

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Olly stabs Jon Snow in Game of Thrones

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Jon Snow dies in the Game of Thrones season five finale

"Everyone like that: ‘oh, you don’t like wildlings, do you?’ Then I was told by one of the stuntmen that I stabbed someone in episode 10 and I wasn’t sure who it was and I was thinking: ‘do I go on a mad killing spree on the wildlings or something like that?’," he explained.

Brenock confessed that the scene was "great fun to film" and that he had not been "expecting anything on that scale at all". He went on to describe the "strange atmosphere" on set as the cast shot the jaw-dropping scenes.

"We were still all very jokey but we realised that there was a job to be done and it needed to be good. But I think Kit was happy with it in the end. It was great fun to film and it was just a shocker of a storyline really, I was not expecting that.

However the actor would not be drawn on whether Olly would be back for season six next, saying only: "It’s great fun and whether I return or not is yet to be confirmed or denied. But if I do go back, I think I’ll love it because I’ve loved these past few series. So if I get another series out of it, should be great.

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Jon Snow is betrayed by his men in the Game of Thrones finale

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Kit Harington as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones

Brenock continued: "I love filming. It’s definitely what I want to do with my life if I have the luck to continue. But my life has pretty much stayed the same apart from a little bit more recognition."

The star said that he only knew his only story lines and was just as surprised at the events in the finale as the rest of the audience: "It blew every single storyline out of proportion and it blew me away.

"There was a major moment in every single storyline in episode 10 and it was just brilliant. It was absolutely amazing, the best episode in my eyes."

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Shireen's death: Equally controversial was Shireen's death after her father decided to sacrifice her to the Lord of Light at the encouragement of Melisandre. Stannis the now dead Mannis got a lot of fan flak on Twitter for his decision

He is busy working on the BBC period drama Dickensian, an ambitious 20-part series that brings all of Charles Dickens' characters together in one interweaving story.

The drama will see him starring alongside Thrones' alumni Mark Stanley, who played slain ranger Grenn, and dodgy Maester Qyburn actor Anton Lesser.